More than half of all executive assistants leave within two years.
Unfortunately, turnover isn’t uncommon in the executive assistant role.
Whether your assistant is moving up or moving on, you’ll need to restart the hiring process and the long journey of building trust with a new EA.
You can make that transition a little less difficult with a few simple steps. No need to dread a change in executive assistants or experience a slowdown in productivity — here are our top tips for a seamless transition.
Allow For Overlap When Onboarding A New Executive Assistant
Ideally, you’ll bring on your new executive assistant while your current one is still present to provide one-on-one training and support to help the transition go smoothly.
With this arrangement, there is a higher likelihood of a practical and in-context knowledge transfer. And, just as important as anything, it can help with morale and engagement in your team. Having a trusted team member train and give the seal of approval to someone new goes a long way.
One-on-one transition training also makes immediate feedback possible. Questions that pop up while observing or doing daily tasks get answered not with just a how-to, but with an explanation of why something is done that way.
Yet, while overlap is ideal, it’s not always possible.
Hiring an executive assistant takes time, and it might not fall within the window of your current executive assistant’s exit plans. This is when high-quality documentation comes in handy.
Create Documentation Of All Executive Assistant Duties
If you’re in a situation where overlap between executive assistants won’t be possible, you’ll need a documentation plan that can be handed off to a new team member.
At Boldly, our team regularly creates standard operating procedures (SOPs) for all client work.
SOPs are written instructions that help define how routine tasks are to be done. Standard operating procedures are vital in some industries, such as medical, manufacturing, or financial, and in some cases, required by law. Regardless, they are a good idea.
Standard operating procedures should:
- Be clear and concise.
- Simplify procedures down to manageable steps.
- Be regularly reviewed and updated, keeping one version fresh for everyone.
- Be easily understood.
- Be written in a way that is end-user or new-user friendly and doesn’t require inside knowledge.
When done correctly, SOPs create:
- Better efficiency. SOPs streamline workflows so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time.
- Consistency. SOPs are a framework that make sure work and tasks are done the same way, meeting established expectations. A consistent process is necessary for effectiveness.
- Protection. By knowing that team members are trained the same way, the likelihood of someone developing erroneous habits or other problematic behavior that impacts the workplace is reduced. SOPs also provide a reference guide on tasks that aren’t done as frequently.
- Goal alignment. SOPs are a guide to keeping a team on track with the executive’s goals.
- Better communication. SOPs standardize work in a way that makes it easier to both collaborate and communicate what needs to be done.
- Better onboarding. With SOPs, onboarding is easier because guidelines, instructions, and expectations are spelled out for new team members. Their questions can be answered within the SOP.
It’s that last point that matters when it comes to a successful transition to a new executive assistant. Boldly executive assistants create SOPs for all of those reasons, but they are particularly mindful that things can easily be covered if emergencies come up.
Whether or not you choose to create a formal SOP, just know that it’s a good idea to document important information.
Your EA shouldn’t be the sole holder of any passwords, systems knowledge, or contacts. This should always be documented and available to other team members who need to know. No one should walk out the door with the keys to the company, essentially.
Sample Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) For Executive Assistants
Good documentation doesn’t thrill most employees, but it’s one of the best ways to ensure you’re covered during vacations, emergency leave, or turnover.
Keeping an updated Standard Operating Procedure (more commonly known as a SOP) should be a regular part of your executive assistant’s job.
Ideally, this should be a priority that begins on your EA’s first day — not something to cram into their last week!
An Executive Assistant Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) should include:
- A list of all the executives the EA is supporting along with their:
- Scheduling preferences
- Travel preferences
- Meeting preferences
- Communication and contact preferences
- Zoom, Slack, email, and any other technology
- Important colleagues, direct reports, and/or partners along with their:
- Contact information
- Time zone (if applicable)
- Link to their calendar (if applicable)
- Key scheduling, inbox, or travel notes
- An overview of the EA’s daily tasks, responsibilities, and projects
- Frequently used tools and applications
Learn Why Your Executive Assistant Is Moving On
This may not always be the best way forward — if your assistant is leaving on uncertain or tense circumstances, it may be best to let HR cover this in an exit interview.
The top reasons an executive assistant leaves tend to be:
- Burnout and overwork.
- Lack of growth or professional development opportunities.
- Challenging relationships with their executive or other team members.
- Change in role and responsibilities.
- Professional or career shift.
- Changes in situations in their personal lives.
If your executive assistant is leaving on good terms, you can have a conversation to learn more — and to get some insights into what you can do to improve the role for the next EA.
While HR should be responsible for the formal executive assistant exit interview, you can learn if there are operational changes that need to be made. You may ask some final questions about projects or clients to make sure all bases are covered. Perhaps you can verify that the SOP is up to date.
At the very least, it’s one final chance to ask your trusted executive assistant for feedback.
They may more freely communicate valuable insights that can genuinely help improve things. There are likely things executive assistants wished their execs knew and this is your opportunity to find out.
The Best Way To Avoid A Challenging Transition
If you need a new executive assistant quickly, Boldly can help make this transition process much easier.
At Boldly, we took all of the pain points—hiring costs, legal compliance concerns, talent level, industry-specific concerns, flexibility, affordability—and created a simple solution. Our subscription staffing model, paired with incredibly stringent vetting of talent and hiring as our own W2 employees can work for anyone.
We’d love to have a conversation with you, even if you’re only in the preparation stages for potential changes ahead.
